The Extent Of Party Autonomy In Commercial Arbitration Under Ethiopian Laws: A Comparative Study With Uncitral Model Law

Abstract

Party autonomy is a guiding principle of commercial arbitration, whether international or domestic. This implies parties have the freedom to draft an arbitration agreement, choose applicable laws, appoint arbitrators, place of arbitration, and language of arbitration, even up to the post-award stage, including setting aside and reviewing an arbitral award. This freedom is not absolute; however, the party may be restricted in arbitration by different limiting factors. The thesis is objectively to analyze the principle of party autonomy and its limitations under Ethiopian arbitration law comparatively with international commercial arbitration law, mainly from the experience of the UNICTRAL Model Law. The thesis found that these limiting factors under Ethiopian commercial arbitration laws, such as the arbitrability of the dispute, the law of the seat of arbitration, mandatory rules, public policy, third-party intervention, court involvement, and the rules of the arbitration institution and the decision of the arbitral tribunal, As a result, these limitations affect the attractiveness of arbitration to businesses. In doing so, I utilized purely doctrinal research methods, and to attain this, I mainly used secondary sources and some primary sources, such as laws, rules, cases, or statutes. In the conclusion, the researcher concluded that Ethiopian arbitration law should not fully confirm the UNICTRAL model law and also fails to take into account the enactments of its domestic commercial legislation as well as case law to make it more favorable in respect of the form requirements governing arbitration agreements, arbitration proceedings, and the enforcement of arbitral awards. Based on this, researchers recommend Ethiopian arbitration laws in commercial arbitration tend to maximize the effect of the principle of party autonomy by reducing these restrictions as conforming to the UN Model Law.